Hunter Tells Police He Was Threatened

By STEPHEN KINZER

Published: November 24, 2004

The Hmong-American man being held in the killings of six hunters and the wounding of two others in Wisconsin has told the police that he opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.

The man, Chai Soua Vang, made the statement on Monday in an interview with police investigators. It was filed on Tuesday as a court document in Hayward, Wis., and it is the first sign of a motive in the case.

Investigators have said the shootings occurred on Sunday after the hunters came upon Mr. Vang in their hunting platform on private property in the North Woods, south of a small town, Meteor. They said just one gun was found at the scene.

According to the statement, Mr. Vang said several hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he had climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 20 yards from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.

''Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang,'' the report said, summarizing his account. ''The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang.''

''Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground,'' the report said.

It did not give an explanation why the other victims, some of whom had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle, were shot.

The statement said that as Mr. Vang looked down the trail and saw that a hunter was still standing he yelled, ''You're not dead yet?'' and shot again.

No lawyer accompanied Mr. Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.

Five hunters were killed, and a sixth, Dennis Drew, died late Monday. Two others were wounded. On Tuesday, a judge found probable cause to hold Mr. Vang for trial on six counts of homicide and two counts of attempted homicide. He set bail at $2.5 million.

Mr. Vang, 36, is a Hmong refugee from Laos who came to the United States in 1980. He was a truck driver and lived in St. Paul, a center of the Hmong-American community. WCCO-TV in Minneapolis reported he was trained as a sharpshooter in the California National Guard.

After the incident, fear has surged in the Hmong community, where police cars stood in front of some Hmong-owned businesses on Tuesday.

''This is a bad thing for us,'' a Hmong shopkeeper said. ''I'm a hunter, and I'm afraid to go up there now. There might be guys who think they should take revenge.''

People walking and shopping on University Avenue and other streets in the Hmong community were eager to talk about the tragedy. Few, however, would give their names.

''You don't know what could happen, not now,'' a clerk at the counter of the Wung Lee grocery store said.

The clerk, who had not heard news of Mr. Vang's statement, said he was convinced that the whole story behind the shootings had not been told.

''There has to be something else,'' he said. ''Hmong people don't go out and shoot people. That's not our nature. We do what we're supposed to do. We don't cause problems.''

A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and avert a possible backlash, held a news conference here on Tuesday. ''We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally -- unconditionally -- condemn these atrocities,'' a spokesman, Cha Vang, said. ''What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for.''

Cha Vang is a son of Gen. Vang Pao, probably the best-known Hmong in the United States. General Vang Pao commanded the Hmong ''secret army'' that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight Communism in Southeast Asia in the 1960's and 70's.

St. Paul has about 25,000 Hmong, and many enjoy hunting. By their own accounts, more than a few have had clashes with whites whose paths they have crossed in the North Woods.

''They treat you bad,'' said Ying Vang, executive director of a Hmong community center. He said whites hurled racial insults at Hmong-American hunters.

''You don't hear that on the streets of St. Paul,'' Mr. Vang said. ''But in hunting areas, it's different. It has happened to me, and also to my father and my uncle.''

''People are afraid there's going to be some kind of revenge,'' said Mr. Vang, who is unrelated to the suspect. ''They're saying things like: 'My father hunts every year. I think I have to convince him not to go this year.' No one knows what could happen.''

One Hmong-American hunter, Dan Thao, 24, a technician, said that he would continue hunting, ''but I'll be more cautious.''

''This is going to put everyone more on edge,'' Mr. Thao said.

Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, an advocacy group here, said she and members of her board had received hate mail since Sunday.

''Hmong hunters don't know what the laws are, they shouldn't be hunting, you don't belong in this country, go back home, this suspect should be killed because he's guilty,'' she said, summarizing the content of messages she has received.

Ms. Her said although Hmong live peacefully in St. Paul, they have felt tense hunting in rural areas. She said she had heard of fights between Hmong and white hunters.

''The community would say they always knew that something like this would happen,'' she said. ''They're shocked that it happened. But at the same time you're kind of not that surprised.''

The publisher of The Hmong Times, a biweekly, Cheu Lee, said readers were calling him.

''The Hmong community is afraid that Caucasians will think we are all shooters,'' Mr. Lee said. ''People are calling to tell me, 'If you write something, write that we are not all bad.'''

Photos: People upset by the killing of six hunters left Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church last night in Haugen, Wis. (Photo by Thomas Whisenand for The New York Times); Ying Vang says whites have insulted Hmong-American hunters. (Photo by Allen Brisson-Smith for The New York Times)